Motion-picture-projecting apparatus.



H. R. EVANS.

MOTION PICTURE PROJECTING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 28, 1914-A v Patented Apr. 9, 1918.

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H. R. EVANS.

MOTION PICTURE P ROIECTING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.2H 1914.

1,261,800; Patented Apr. 9, 1918.

WITNESSES.- 1N VENTOR.

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HENRY EVANS, @F NEW YORK, N. Y.

MTION-PICIPRJECTHIG PPRTUS.

Monaco.

Toallwtomz'tmay concern:

Be it lrnown that l, Huisnr Evans, a citizen of the limited States, residing at New York city, in the county ot New York and State of New York, have mvented a new and useful Motion-Picture-Projecting Apparatus, of which the -following is a specic'ation.

I proper evposure, extremely shortlife oit the tilm due to a great. increase speed oi movement required, a variation in view pointof the various color records causing great trouble in scenes of any depth, the necessity in certain processes oi having two operators, one atthe projector and one at the screen with means of communication between them or other defects equally serious. j The objects of my invention are, tirst, to obtain optically-satisfactory natural color motion pictures, and secondly to make possible the use of standard size hlm for the purpose set. forth without increasing the length thereof over the ,length ot"blacl and white" film for any given subject without changing the speed or amount of leed for each picture. v

More specifically. the objects ot my invention are. to provide improved means tor superposing succeive picture images on the screen in the projection of colored pictures, and to so arrange and construct said means that it can be utilized with the usual motionpicture film and with the pictures spaced and arranged thereon and of the same size as usual and the tlm fed in the usual manner.

My invention consists in the novel features and combinations hereinafter described and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will be seen from the following description and the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which-- Figure l is a side elevation of a motion head of a projector embodying my invenspeeianon or Letters rarest.

lipplcaon tiled March 28, i914. Serial Ilo. @$7,289.

tion, in part section on line X above line Y.

see Fie'. :2; F ig. 2, is a diagrammatic trontview oit same in section taken on line oi Fig. l; Fig. 3, is a detailed view oi the double, adjustable aperture plate; Fig.. d, is a portion ot Fig. l, enlarged, and traces the light rays through one form of reidector to the objective lens; ig. 5, is a view similar to Fig. d but traces the light rays through another form of reector to the objective lens; and Fig. 6, is a face view toa scale smaller than that of Figfll ot 'a color hlter shutter `for two color projection.

Similar letters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

Vll`he constantly rotating. upper andlower sprockets l and 2 respectively and intermittent sprocket 3 ot the motion head ot my projector, feed the hlm l past the double aperture plate 5 drawing the tilm down one picture at a time, so that each picture on the tiln is exposed twice, once at the top F ig. 3. From this arrangement it will be.

seen that if a red picture is exposed at the upper window 6 as shown in Fig. 3, its next adjacent preceding picture is green and is exposed at the same time at. the lower window l'. Now.. when vthe next movement of the tilm takes place the red picture is drawn down b v the intermittent sprocket 3 to the lower window i now occupied b v the said green picture which passes down and out ot the illuminated held but is replaced by the nest succeeding green picture which b v the same movement has been brought opposite the upper window tl. Each succeeding movement, ot the t'ilm brings aboutm a similar change but always exposing an adjacent red and green picture at the aperture plate, hected into optical alinement with their respective upper and lower objective lenses 8 and 9 by their correspondingly respective reflecting prisms l0 and 11. Either the prisms 10 and ,l1 or the objective lenses 8 and 9 must be vertically and laterally relativelyv adjustable for the purpose of properly superposing th two images upon the screen. I prefer the prisms stationarily mounted and free from possible vibration and the adjustment applied Yto the objective lenses as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 in which the upper and lower lenses are securely held by their respective carriages 12 and 13 slidably mounted upon the guide-rods l4-14 and vertically adjustable relatively, buttremaining always parallel to each other, as by the right and left hand screw 14 operated through the worin and gear 15 andA 16 by the thumb nut 17, as well as laterally adjustable as upon the snug fitting pivot pin 18 mounted in the focusing slide 19 carrying the said lens carriages and vertical adjusting mechanism, and about which pin as an axis the carriage and adjust'in mechanism may be made to oscillate within the slight limits of lateral adjustment required.

For the best results the objective lenses Vshould be corrected for the colors used.,

It is of course necessary that only red light reach the screen from the red picture and that only green light reach the screen from the 'een picture. This is accomplished eiter by stenciling each picture with a flat red or green dye respectively or by interposingf'a light filter between the screen and the source of light illuminating each picture of the correct respective color. .In the machine illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 I have used a color filter shutter 20 between the objective lenses and the screen close to the regular opaque shutter 21 with very good' results. One half of the color filter shutter 20 is fitted with a red filter 22 and the opposite half with a green filter 23. This filter shutter makes one half a revolution. to every picture on the film so that when the red picture is in the upper window 6 the red filter 22 is in front of the upper objective lens and the green picture and filter are at the bottom as shown. When the pictures are in the reversed relative position the color lters arecorrespondingly reversed. The opaque shutter 21 is of the 'ordinary two blade type and makes one and one half revolution for every picture on the film to reduce the flicker in the well known manner. One or both of these shutters can rotate from a point below both objective lenses in which case they must be correspondingly larger in order to intercept the light of both lenses. In this case the opaque shutter may be arranged as shown in Fig. 5.

In various films the exact distance between pictures varies slightly and in order that the frames as well as the colored images may be exactly superposed upon the screen the.aperture plate may be made so that the upper and lower windows 6 and 7 have a slight relative adjustment lengthwise of the film as illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4 in vwhich the upper window 6 is slidably mounted and can be adjusted toward and from the lower window 7 by the hand lever 25 through the link 26.

Itis very important that the shape, size and position of the reflectors or reflecting prisms used bear a certain relation to the location and size of the pictures upon the film and that area of thev objective lens capable of transmitting light from the film to the screen which area is indicated in Figs. 1, 4, and 5 as that portion of the lens lying between the two extreme light beams A and B traced in double dot and dash lines. In practice this area is always greater than the area of the picture on the film in order to obtain the maximum illumination of the image upon the screen. From this fact, it will readily be seen that when the center of the picture on the film is in optical alinement, through reection, with the optical axis 27-27 of the objective lens and normal thereto as shown in the various figures, a beam of light A traced from the top 28 of the upper aperture 6 to the top of the effective lens area at 28', will diverge from a ray coincident with the optical axis 27-27 at an angle therewith equal to the adjacent angle of divergence of ray B traced from the bottom 29 of the same aperture to the bottomv of the effective lens area at 29',

which by geometry is equal to angle 27-29-B in which 27 is parallel to 27 and B is parallel to B intersecting each other at point 29. Now, when the first refiecting surface 30 is at an angle of 45 degrees or more to the incident axial ray 27 as in Fig. 4, the point of incidence B of ray B must be at a point sufiiciently distant from the film 4 that the second refiecting surface 31 of Fig. 4, parallel with the first reflecting surface 30, may receive upon its surface the reflected ray B as at point 32 an appreciable distance within the boundary line 33 thereof as shown, hence, by geometry and the laws of incidence and reflection of light, the included angle between line B33 and the film 4 must be greater than the included angle between reflected ray B 32 and the film 4. In case a prism is used as shown in Figs. 1 and 4 the first transparent surface 34 and the second transparent surface 35 must be parallel to the film and the vertical and horizontal dimensions of the surface 35 must be greater than the diverged beam of light it must transmit, with a liberal allowance for adjustment of the objective lenses 8 and 9 laterally and toward each other. Prisme of this kind must have their adjacent edges cut ofi` making a fifth surface 36 in order that each may bear a similar symmetrical relation -to yits picture and objective lens. The refiecting surfaces of the prisms just described must be silvered or otherwise treated to reficct all rays of less than 43 degrees of incidence noone-oo such as the cross ray C, or thesevvill be absorbed and never reach the screena lach prism must be of the same kind ot glassJ and each can be made up oi two prisms divided in the neighborhood of dotted line 37 @ne of the prisms l0 or ll may be pivot-ally mounted to get the necessary adjustment tor superposing, but this method is by no means as good as the adjustment ot the/objective lenses described, although it is considerably better than adjusting only one of two parallel retlecting surfaces, as has been suggested prior to my invention, because such case the planes of the two images intended to be superposed on the screen will not coincide throughout, nor will either coincide with the plane orn the screen, and there will also be a keystone distortion, so to speak, of each image, and these teatures will prevent true superposition ot the images throughout, and hence lach ot uniform denition or clearness.

Prisms without a iilth surface 36 in llig. 1, or, silvered parallel reflecting surfaces 38 and 39 may be successfully used it the hrst redecting surface 38, see lig. 5, is at an angle with the incident axial ray il? :22' less than l5 degrees by an angle 39'L-lbf-i8 at least one halt as great as angle QTL-2@- B of Fig. 5 derived in the same manner described for Fig. t, otherwise, ray ll ot this figure would not strike redecting surface 39 at point 32 within its surface, but would pass outside its boundary line 33 and never reach the screen. Prisms or reilecting suraces of this type must also be silvered or platiniaed in order to obtain total redection unless prisms ot extremely small angle oi incidence are used, ln all cases the redecting surfaces must be near the iilm in order that the diverging rays of .each picture may not mingle*\ with each other before being redected.

My invention is applicable to two-color reproduction of motion pictures in which positive film is used printed from panchromatic negative exposed one picture at la time in the camera in the same nia-nner and at the same speed as for ordinary black and white pictures except that each succeeding picture is taken through a diherent color filter oi which there are two and which follow each other in the same recurring sequence throughout the hlm.

The increased area of illumination required by my two aperture plates will be accompanied by no loss of light it a cylindricall)v concave lens with a horizontal axis is used as near the condenser lenses as possible and of sutlicient curvature to render the illuminated spot upon the aperture plate oval in form and but slightly larger than the combined area ofthe aperture window as clearly shown in dash lines 57 ot Fig. 3. A cylindrically convexlens with avertical axis placed near the condensers will accomplish the same result or the dat surfaces oit the condensers may be ground cylindrically concave or convexwith a horizontal or vertical axis respectively to obtain the result described according to the well lmown laws ot optit lt ordinary black and white hlm is projected in my machine and the images blended upon thescreen it is obvious that any scratch marks, or other detects of one picture will be partially or wholly mashed or counteracted by the other image being projected upon the same spot.

will thus be seen thatmy invention prothose slrilled in the art, alter having understood the Same, that various changes and modifications may be made in the construction and arrangement of the parts without departing trom the spirit or scope the invention, and l do not wish to be understdod as limiting my invention other than as indicated the appended claims.-

'l claim as new in my invention:

l., ln apparatus for the projection ot motion pictures, the combination of optical means to separate the images of a plurality ot consecutive pictures on the a? from one another by a distance greater than that which separates the said pictures and to lrecp the planes of the said ages parallel to one another, a plurality of objective lenses for projecting said images and supported with their principal optical axes parallel to one another and normal to the said image planes, and means permitting relative adjustment of said objectives in a direction transverse to their said axes While maintaining at the adjusted posit/ions the parallelism of their said axes and the angular relation orD those axes to the said image planes, for the purpose of superposing the projected images on a screen.

2. ln apparatus for the projection ot motion of pictures, the comblnation of reecting means adapted to reflect a picture twice, and having rst and second reflecting surfaces parallel to one another and inclined to the plane of the pictures, a plurality of objective lensesfor projecting images of said pictures and supported with their principal lill ltlti liti optical axes parallel to one anotheii andI normal to 'the lane of the pictures, and meansfor pro ucing relative motion between said objectives and said parallel reflecting surfaces transverse to the said principal optical axes without disturbing either the parallelism of the said axes or of the said reflecting surfaces or the angular relationof said axes to the said pictures, for the purpose of 'superposing the projected images on a screen.

3. In apparatus for the projection of motion pictures, the combination of optical means to separate the images of a plurality of consecutive pictures on the film from one another by a distance greater than that which separates the said pictures and to keep the planes of the said images parallel to one another, a plurality of objective lenses for projectin said images and supported with their principal optical axes parallel to one another and normal to the said image planes and lying ina plane passing through the centers of said two images, and means for moving each of said objectives in a direction transverse to the said axes without disturbing either the parallelism of their said axes or the angular relation. of said axes to said ima e planes, for the purpose of superposing t e projected images on a screen.

4. In apparatus for the projection of motion pictures, the combination of optical means to separate the images of a lurality of consecutive pictureson the film rom one another by a distance greater than that which separates the said pictures and to keep the planes of the said images parallel to one another, a lurality ofobjective lenses supported with `t eir princi al optical axes parallel to one another an normal t0 the said image planes, and means to roduce relative movement between the sai objectives in a plurality of directions parallel to the plane of the images without disturbing either the parallelism of the said axes or the angular relation of said axes to the said image planes, for the purpose of superposing the projected images on'y a screen.

5. In apparatus for the projection of motion pictures, the combination of optical means to separate the images of a lurality of consecutive pictures on the film rom one another by a distance reater than that which separates the sai pictures and to keep the planes of the said images parallel tp one another, said means being Vadaptedto simultaneously refiect the images of two successive pictures twice and comprising two 'oair of reflecting surfaces, each pair consisting of first and second reflectin surfaces paral el one to the other, and eac pair inclined to the plane of the said images, a plurality of ob'ective lenses for rojectmg said images an `supported -with t eir principal opticalaxes parallel, to oneanother and normal -to the said image planes, and means for producing relative motion between said objectives and at least one pair of said parallel reflecting surfaces transverse tothe said principal optical axes without disturbing the parallelism of the said axes or the parallelism of the first and second reflecting surfaces of each pair of reflecting surfaces or the angular relation of said axes to the said image planes, for the purpose of superposing the projected images on a screen.

6. In apparatus for the projection of motion pictures, the A'combination of optical means to separate the images of a plurality of consecutive pictures on the film from one another by a distance reater than that which separates the sai pictures and t0 keep the planes of the said images parallel to one another, a plurality of o jective lenses supported with their principal optical axes parallelto one another and normal to the said image planes, and means to roduce relative movement between the sai 0bjectives in the direction of the film length and in another direction transverse to their principal optical axes without disturbing either the parallelism. of said axes or the angular relation of the same to the said image planes, for the purpose of superpos-l Y ing the projected images on a screen.

In apparatus for the projection of motion pictures, the .combination ofl reiecti meansadapted to reflect a picture twice, an

having first and secondrefiectingv surfaces parallel to one another and inclined to the plane of the pictures, a plurality of objective lenses for projectin ima es of said pictures and supported with their principal optical axes ara lel to one another and normal to the p ane of the pictures, and means for producing relative motion between said objectives transverse to the said principal optical axes without disturbing either the parallelism of the said axes or the angular relation of the said axes to the said pictures, for the purpose of superposing the projected images on a screen.

HENRY a. EVANS.

Witnesses:

JOHN KLEIN, A. A. GRANS. 

